All news

Another criminal case opened over submarine fire

Earlier, the GVSU opened a criminal case under Article 347 of Russia's Criminal Code /destruction or damage of military property by negligence/
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, January 19 (Itar-Tass) — Military prosecutors opened criminal proceedings over office crime in connection with the fire on the K-84 "Yekaterinburg" strategic nuclear power submarine.

"The military investigation department of the Investigative Committee /GVSU/ for the Northern Fleet opened a criminal case under Article 286, Part 3 /"exceeding authority and causing grave consequences"/, in connection with the December 26 fire," a GVSU representative told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

The new criminal case was opened after a prosecutors' check.

Earlier, the GVSU opened a criminal case under Article 347 of Russia's Criminal Code /destruction or damage of military property by negligence/.

The GVSU official said the new criminal case will "give a legal evaluation of actions of the officials responsible for that situation. Both criminal cases have been pooled into one.

A fire at a dry dock of repair plant # 82 in the village of Roslyakovo, Murmansk region, where the submarine had been brought, occurred at around 16:20, Moscow time, on December 29. Reports said wooden scaffolding around the vessel caught fire and spread to hull insulation. To put out the blaze, the submarine had to submerge.

The fire was fully extinguished on December 30. Nine people were injured.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said after his working trip to the Murmansk region that the submarine would be repaired.

The Yekaterinburg submarine will be repaid at the Zvyozdochka repair plant in Severodvinsk, the company's spokeswoman Nadezhda Shcherbinina told Itar-Tass.

"The submarine is due to arrive at Severodvinsk in the summer. The repairs will last some two years," Shcherbinina said.

K-84 Yekaterinburg is a strategic nuclear-powered submarine of Project 667 BDRM "Delfin." It was built at the Sevmash shipyard and added to the Navy's arsenal on December 30, 1985.

The submarine is 166 meters long; its width is 12 meters, and displacement - 19,000 tons. It can carry 16 R-29RM ballistic missiles.

Zvyozdochka specializes in medium repairs of nuclear submarines of Project 667 BDRM. It modernized Yekaterinburg and handed it over to the Northern fleet in 2003. Its service was extended by ten years. At present, Zvyozdochka is completing medium repairs of the Novomoskovsk submarine. Its handover to the Northern Fleet will complete the modernization of all the six submarines of this class. Earlier, the company upgraded K-51 Verkhoturye /1999/, K-84 Yekaterinburg /2003/, K-114 /Tula /2006/, K-117 Bryansk /2008/ and K-18 Karelia /2010/. The project to upgrade the Novomoskovsk was worth eight billion roubles.